Last Judgment (10)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Michelangelo,_Giudizio_Universale_02.jpg
The Last Judgment

The Last Judgment is a piece that is made to both inspire and instill fear in the viewer. Even though I was fascinated by this piece, I was a little nervous to have to pay close attention to the details and talk about them. Michelangelo’s image of hell looks so realistic that it really makes you shiver with the thought of actually going to such a place. The painting is both heaven and hell, but surprisingly enough the demons in the picture stood out to me more than any other image. The amount of detail put into the souls who are put in internal damnation is shocking. Even though the Bible inspires this, you can see Michelangelo’s imagination take on a life of its own. Looking at this painting you no longer have to read the book of Revelations, because it’s right there in front of you, from the angel holding the book of life, to the images of the cemetery where the souls connect with their bodies. Although the Council of Trent issued decrees due to some images that were not allowed for the church. Biagio da Cesena said “it was mostly disgraceful that in so sacred a place there should have been depicted all those nude figures, exposing them so shamefully," so what does Michelangelo do? He paints Cesena as the judge of the underworld with donkey ears. And although he’s nude he has a snake wrapped around him biting his penis. Which to me was hilarious. Even though Cesena complained to the Pope, the Pope said that because he was in hell he had no place to say anything anymore and the image remained. But after Michelangelo died the genitals of some of the figures was painted over and some of the women were clothed. Daniele da Volterra did this. Seeing this piece in person had me speechless, I couldn’t look away. I became so obsessed over it that I barely gave any attention to the Sistine Chapel. Another beautiful work of art done by the amazing Michelangelo. 

Raphael (9)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pope_Julius_II.jpg

It’s interesting to me that Vasari spends most of his time talking about what a good person Raphael was, rather than the type of artist he was. Raphael was a great artist who constantly looked up to his master Pietro and Michelangelo and their style of painting. Although Raphael’s work is incomparable to Michelangelo. Raphael had a hard time making his paintings look realistic and lifelike. He realized that if he didn’t take the time to practice and study he would never reach that point of perfection. He began to improve his style by studying nudes, human anatomy. I remember when I was taking my figure drawing class; we spent a lot of time studying the human body. We even went as far as going to see a cadaver and we were to touch and feel the muscles in order to truly understand the body and its proportions. So this is exactly what Raphael had to do. One of his famous pieces was the one of Pope Julius. Vasari states in the Lives “… he painted a portrait in oil of Pope Julius during this time, which was so lifelike and real that it made the onlooker shrink from it in fear, as if the pope were truly alive.” Although to everyone else Raphael reached his goal as to making his paintings look lifelike, he was still not satisfied with himself and continued studying and improving his technique. Something every artist struggles with is not trying to impress others, but to reach a point of perfection that only he or she has in their mind. 

Pieta (9)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Michelangelo%27s_Pieta_5450_cropncleaned_edit.jpg

The “Pieta” is another masterpiece done by Michelangelo. This piece represents the image of Mary and Jesus, after Christ has been crucified and is lying dead on Mary’s lap. When I first saw this, the first image that came to my mind was the movie “The Passion of the Christ.” The scene when Jesus falls with the cross on his back, and Mary runs to him to comfort and protect him, even though he’s the son of God, she looks at him as her little baby boy. This sculpture not only represents the death and resurrection of Christ, but it symbolizes a mother’s love. It’s a very powerful piece. The way the drapery is done on Mary’s dress alone can make you fall in love with this piece. That’s the first thing that grabbed my attention. The figures in this piece are clearly out of proportion, you see a full-grown man being cradled on his mothers lap but the mother is huge compared to the son. Most of Mary’s lap is covered up in drapery, and her face is made out to be so young and beautiful. Something that Michelangelo did purposely to represent how young Mary was. I can’t get enough of this piece by just looking at pictures, I can only imagine how amazing it would be to see it in person. 

The David (8)

Photo by: Tania Zatikian

Michelangelo was given a piece of flawed marble that another artist started working on but later decided to give up. It was a giant block of marble, which had been mauled so bad that it was completely abandoned. It was given to him as something useless. It was difficult to sculpt an entire figure without breaking it down into pieces first. Michelangelo was one of the few who had the courage to make the attempt. I had the privilege to see this 14-foot masterpiece up front. Pictures don’t do it justice. The fact that Michelangelo took so much time to pay attention to the details of the story behind this piece alone puts me in awe.  The way David is positioned is not just by chance, but is thought out specifically to make him look like a humble servant of God. In the bible, David was not a warrior; he was a poor boy who had placed all his faith in God. So when you look at the piece you don’t see a proud David who’s proud and flaunting the fact that he just killed Goliath. Looking at the statue, you notice that his right hand is disproportionately large compared to the rest of the body, that’s because back then David was commonly said to be of “manu fortis” which means “strong of hand” You see a strong yet humble boy. You can barely see the stone and sling, which emphasizes how David owned his victory not just by force or brutality, but also by his intelligence and innocence. Vasari says in “The Lives” that "The grace of this figure and the serenity of its pose have never been surpassed, nor have the feet, the hands, and the head, whose harmonious proportions and loveliness are in keeping with the rest. To be sure, anyone who has seen Michelangelo's David has no need to see anything else by any other sculptor, living or dead." Vasari was just as in love with Michelangelo’s work as the rest of us are. Simply amazing.

The Last Supper (8)

The last Supper was a piece that I believe I had the most emotional connection to. This picture is everywhere, it’s like the more you see it the less you value its meaning. We all know what the Last Supper was, and we all know the history of the scene that takes place in the picture. But this time, hearing about this piece in class, my love and appreciation for this painting grew. I didn’t want class to end, just so I can hear more about it.

The Last Supper
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Giampietrino-Last-Supper-ca-1520.jpg

The painting portrays all of Christ’s disciples sitting at the table having their last meal before Christ gets Crucified. He then tells his disciples to remember him in a specific way. He told them to eat bread and drink wine as symbols of His body and blood. (You can find this in the bible, book of Corinthians 11:24-25) This is why communion takes place in Catholic and Christian churches. Leonardo didn’t use a Halo like most artists do; he used the windows to make Jesus stand out from his disciples. The three windows in the back represent The Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. The three disciples on the right of Jesus are Judas, Peter and John. Judas, being the one who betrays Christ and Peter and John, Christ’s two most faithful followers. It’s almost like putting one black sheep in the middle of a herd of white sheep; of course the black sheep will stand out more. I love how Da Vinci uses Peter and John’s loyalty to bring out Judas’s betrayal. He does it in such a way that the viewer needs to really pay attention to detail to understand the piece. And that’s what makes Da Vinci such an amazing artist.